The present invention relates to a fixing tool used in a ligament reconstruction operation to fix a tendon graft having a bone plug can be inserted into a bone tunnel formed at a bone and a ligament reconstruction method to be carried out by using the tendon graft having a bone plug.
In a ligament reconstruction operation (for example, anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction operation) currently performed, a first tunnel (bone tunnel at tibial side) is formed at the tibia, whereas a second tunnel (bone tunnel at femur) is formed at the femur. In a normal ligament reconstruction operation, a tendon graft for reconstructive use (for example, hamstring muscles folded four to six times) is not long enough to pass the tendon graft through the bone tunnel consisting of the first tunnel, inside the joint, and the second tunnel. Therefore an artificial ligament or a sewing thread is placed at both ends of the tendon graft for reconstructive use to fix the ligament to a portion in the neighborhood of an upper opening of a bone tunnel at the femur side and thereafter finally fix the ligament to a front opening of the bone tunnel at the tibial side.
A method of using an autogenous/allogeneic bone plug-attached patellar tendon as the ligament graft for reconstructive use is widely carried out. The following fixing methods and appliances using the bone plug-attached patellar tendon are known: the screw for fixing a tendon graft to be transplanted inside a bone tunnel is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0032870. The tendon graft fixing screw has the screw thread in the range from the distal end thereof to the proximal end thereof and the flat surface at the proximal side thereof. The expandable fixing apparatus disclosed in European Patent Publication No. 1297799 is inserted between the tibia-side bone tunnel and the tibia-side bone plug of the ligament for reconstructive use to fix the tendon graft. The tendon graft-fixing appliance, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,139, having two spikes and the ligaturing hole is stricken into a portion in the neighborhood of the tibia-side bone tunnel to bind the sewing thread sewed to the tibia-side bone plug of the tendon for reconstructive use to the ligaturing hole. In another known tendon graft fixing appliance, the screw is inserted into a portion in the neighborhood of the tibia-side bone tunnel to bind the sewing thread sewed to the tibia-side bone plug of the tendon for reconstructive use to the head part thereof. In this manner, the ligament for reconstructive use is fixed.
But it is difficult for the above-described fixing appliances and fixing methods to fix the tendon graft for reconstructive use at a tensile force intended by an operator.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-described problem and provide a tensile force-adjustable fixing tool for fixing a tendon graft having a bone plug to be transplanted at a tensile force intended by an operator and a ligament reconstruction method to be carried out by using the tendon graft having the bone plug.